This invention relates to an improved shoe heel device and more particularly to a heel device which effectively cushions the heel from the act of walking.
Walking and its associated motions involve subtle jolts and jars which are transmitted throughout the body by the skeletal structure. The heel of the foot at the end of an outstretched leg is generally the first part of the body to make contact with the ground during the act of walking. Since the heel in this position is relatively rigid, heel contact causes a jolt which is accentuated as the body is raised through the arc formed by movement of the body and leg over the heel during the act of walking. This jolt is transmitted directly up the legs, knees and hips to the spinal cord, neck, head and tissues in the trunk of the body.
A person is normally so accustomed to these jolts that they are not noticed. Although the jolts may seem slight, they may, over the years, cumulatively produce a destructive effect on body and facial tissues. The medical profession has recently undertaken to warn women, particularly, that walking and everyday movements will cause a sagging of breast tissues unless those tissues are properly supported. These same factors, walking and everyday movement, contribute along with the normal aging process to the sagging body tissues associated with old age.
The detrimental effects of the walking jolt primarily relate to sagging body tissue, but may also include pain to sensitive joints and aching in other parts of the body. A person who is having pain in the knees, back or head is acutely aware that walking in a manner which will soften this joint will also reduce the pain. Moreover, all people, regardless of age or sex, recognize that the "feel" of walking on a soft cushion is more desirable than the "feel" of walking on a hard surface.
It is known to cushion the walking jolt by making shoes, or footwear from suitably flexible material such as a rubber. More recently, it has been known to make heels which have a hollow interior and to place coil springs within the hollow interior. The purpose of this latter arrangement is to have the coil springs absorb the jolt of the heel making impact with the ground and impart a "cushiony" feel to the act of walking.
The prior products have certain deficiencies. For example, although rubber provides a softer heel than does leather, rubber alone does not produce a heel which is as "cushiony" as one might desire. Coil springs are expensive to buy, expensive to build into heels, and prone to fatigue. Furthermore, the springs may have a tendency to buckle and thereby distort the "feel" which one gets from a conventional heel. Springs also tend to support at certain points which become pressure points so that the support provided by the heel is not uniform over the surface of the heel. No prior product known to applicant comprises a heel which effectively cushions the walking jolt in a uniform manner and which can be inexpensively produced.